


Wyvernus alba

by tamoria



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fluff, Humor, and some fantasy science
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:02:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28297197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tamoria/pseuds/tamoria
Summary: Claude has big plans for his debut into the world of herpetology. Unfortunately, those plans involve flying halfway around the world and setting up camp for three weeks isolated in a forest, all on the hope of finding a reptile that most scholars don't believe exists.At least he has the hired help of Byleth, an experienced camper and survivalist. Although, her presence does give him yet another mystery to ponder: why, exactly, is he so curious as to what's going on behind that stoic expression of hers?
Relationships: My Unit | Byleth/Claude von Riegan
Comments: 15
Kudos: 52





	Wyvernus alba

**Author's Note:**

> _Herpetology_ , noun - the branch of zoology concerned with reptiles and amphibians.
> 
>  _Herping_ , verb - the act of searching for reptiles and amphibians, and hopefully not getting stuck in a marsh and sinking further and further into the mud while the TA shows the rest of your peers the cool snake you pointed out to him instead of actually helping you. Thanks, Brian.
> 
> X
> 
> This was written for a Claudeleth Secret Santa for [deleiterious](https://archiveofourown.org/users/deleiterious)! I hope you enjoy, your prompt was such a delight to fill!

Claude spotted her easily enough, tucked away in the corner of a terminal within the Derdriu Intercontinental Airport. At least, he was pretty sure it was her. He had only ever seen her from videos, but her dark navy hair and blank face were particularly distinctive.

Just to be sure, he slipped his phone out of his pocket and pulled up one of his saved videos. This one, simply titled “Remire-brand Rainproof Canopy Demonstration”, one of many short clips from the user EisnerCampGear, started with no introduction. The man on screen in rugged orange hiking gear simply started driving stakes into the soft dirt, discussing measurements and specs of the product as he worked. Claude skipped forward by a couple minutes and suddenly there were poles in the ground and a canopy being stretched over them, the man tying it off at one end while a young woman with an unreadable expression tied it off at the other end.

“-and you need to make sure the fabric is pulled taut,” the man was saying, “or else rain can collect in the- ah, sh-” Here, the video was edited with a loud duck quack to cover up his curse as the rope slipped through his fingers and the canopy started to collapse.

No matter how many times Claude would rewind this part to watch it over, he still could barely see the moment when the woman started to move. One instant she was finishing a knot on her end, and the next she was simply beside her father, catching the canopy before it collapsed and fixing it back up without a word.

“Thanks, kiddo. So, here we have it set at eight feet tall, but the poles can be adjusted to…” He continued on as if nothing had happened, as if his daughter moving like a blur was such a mundane occurrence that it warranted no notice whatsoever.

Claude glanced up from his screen back to the woman that was unmistakably the same person from the video, face impassive as she stared out the window to the tarmac beyond. He paused the video before the man could remind the camera that the canopy was available to be purchased from his store, slipping his phone back into his pocket to make his way over to her with a grin.

“Hey!” he greeted, “Byleth, right?”

Piercing blue eyes turned to him appraisingly, staring right through him. If she came to a conclusion in her assessment, her neutral face did nothing to relay her opinion. Claude was more intrigued than unnerved by her manner; ever since seeing her videos and starting an email correspondence with her, he had wondered if she was just as unreadable in person. Perhaps it was his overly inquisitive nature that left him wondering what was going on behind that stoic expression. Or maybe there was some other reason that he had yet to uncover.

“You’re Claude, then?” Byleth asked in lieu of an answer.

He widened his grin and nodded, slipping casually into the seat across from her. “In the flesh! Nice to finally meet you. Now, we’ve got a long flight ahead of us to get to know each other, but first, is there anything else you’d like to know before we actually get on the plane? You never did ask for many details about this job.” That had rather surprised him, actually. When he first reached out, he was expecting a long negotiation before the experienced camper would agree to accompany an unknown grad student halfway around the world. Instead, it had taken exactly one detail for her to accept his offer: airfare and meals provided.

She blinked, and he couldn’t help but note that her eyelashes seemed longer in person. “Is there anything I need to know other than that I’m going to set up and manage a camp?”

Claude let out a chuckle. “Guess not, but I imagine most people would at least like to know why someone was venturing out into the middle of the Morfis cloud forest.”

Byleth shrugged one shoulder. “Like you said, we have a long flight for you to fill me in on necessary details.” With that, she turned her attention back to the window, watching as planes arrived and departed.  
Not the most encouraging way for the conversation to end, but she was right. Plenty of time ahead of them, Claude thought as he settled in to wait.

-

“So. How much do you know about wyverns?”

Byleth glanced up from the world map Claude had draped awkwardly over the fold-out dining tray from the plane seat in front of him, fixing him with a stare that was almost questioning. “The winged lizards from… Almyra, right? Not much.”

Claude grinned and tapped the Almyran mountain range where they were known to nest. “Yep! Well, sorta. _Wyvernus almyrania_ , common name wyvern, is the only known species of reptile that has evolved the ability to fly. They spend most of the year in Almyra, but they do migrate.”

He traced his finger downwards, drawing a lazy line across the latitudes until he reached a large southern island stranded far away from any other land mass. “They travel well over a thousand miles to spend summer here, where their prey is much more plentiful than in the Almyran deserts. Wyverns don’t handle the cold well, so once the fall starts, they make their way back to roost in Almyra with full bellies. Since the island they go to hunt is so isolated and difficult for us humans to get to, it’s well-known that Almyra is really the only place for people to go to see these creatures. And Almyra is rightfully quite proud of them! Adult wyverns typically only reach about two meters in length, but Almyran folklore is full of stories of wyverns that are large enough that people would actually ride them!”

Byleth’s expression remained stoically unchanged even with that fascinating fact. Claude internally winced and decided to get to his point. “Interestingly, there’s another country that features folklore about flying reptiles that sound suspiciously similar to wyverns.” Back up his finger traced along the map, ending with a flourish on the large landmass right below Almyra.

There was a glint in Byleth’s eyes now; not quite interest, Claude suspected, but at least understanding. “Morfis. Where we’re heading.”

Claude flashed a conspiratorial smile. “Exactly. The people of Morfis have long claimed that wyverns live permanently within their cloud forests. Fódlani scholars dismiss those claims out of hand since they’ve never confirmed it themselves, but it is entirely plausible that a group of migrated wyverns became stranded there in the past and have since adapted to live within the forest permanently. In fact, if you ask me, that’s much more plausible than an entire country making up stories about a winged reptile in their land. And if someone within the world of Fódlan academia were able to prove their existence, say, a grad student studying herpetology…”

“Such as you?” Byleth clarified.

He winked. “Well, you have to admit it would make for a damn fine thesis. Not to mention a ‘discovery’ like that would be a great way to jumpstart a career.”

Her eyes flicked up from the map to bore into his own. “And that’s why you’re doing this?” He would swear that her tone was as even as ever, yet somehow he had the impression she was unconvinced.

He forced his grin to widen. “Hey, doubting my intentions already? I would act hurt if that wasn’t so wise of you. Maybe that’s my only reason, and maybe I have some other secret motivation, but you said it yourself earlier. All you need to worry about is keeping us alive, and I’ll worry about my goals.”

Byleth made a noise of agreement, unconcerned with his coy answer. “Alright. Just wake me when the plane lands, then.”

She settled back into her seat and let her head tilt down as her eyes closed, letting out a slow, deep breath. Within seconds, her body looked so relaxed that she could have been in a deep slumber.

Claude blinked, wondering if she really had managed to fall asleep that quickly. Slowly, quietly, he lifted a hand in front of her face, waving it back and forward to see if she reacted.

Her hand struck out in a blur, catching him by the wrist before he even registered the movement. “Stop that,” she chidded calmly, eyes still closed as she placed his arm back in his lap.

“Right. Sorry. Couldn’t help myself. Enjoy your nap,” Claude stuttered out quickly, ignoring the strange thrill that her grip had sent down his spine. Byleth settled peacefully back in her chair to drift off, but Claude knew his mind was unlikely to be quiet enough to allow him any sleep on this flight. He pulled his tattered copy of a field guide to reptiles and amphibians of Morfis and flipped through the pages. He had already memorized much of it, but perhaps it would keep him occupied on the long flight.

-

Their first few days in Morfis were spent gathering supplies and preparing. Claude put forth his best charm with the merchants within the sprawling marketplace while he bought food, hoping they could give him advice on where to look to find any wyverns.

“Well, up, obviously!” a young woman declared in answer, cackling to herself as her swift brown fingers tied close a bag of rice. Every answer he got was the same unhelpful joke.

By the time he and Byleth were dropped off at the edge of the expansive Morfis forest with a promise from the driver to return for them in three weeks time, Claude still had no solid leads. He would just have to follow his own hunch.

It took two full days of exhaustive hiking to reach the spot Claude had chosen for a base camp. From a map, he could tell that it would be ideal: a small area right by a river for fresh water, at the base of one of the many mountains rising above the earth within the forest. If the wyverns he hoped to find here were at all similar to the species that roosted within Almyra, then they would make their homes along the sheer rock walls of the mountain, venturing forth at dawn to hunt for food and returning through the sky as the sun set to sleep. With their tents right below the mountain, it would be easy for Claude to spot any wyverns flying to and from the cliffs. 

What the map had not been able to tell him was how gorgeous his chosen spot would be. Life seemed to burst forth from every direction he turned. The trees grew to such towering heights that he felt like an ant lost beneath the high tangled canopy. Each tree made a home for a thousand other things, from clinging ferns and climbing vines to the birds calling above and the frogs peeping below. Only one side of the mountain was a sheer rock wall, while every other inch of it was covered in vegetation, like some great green behemoth. And although the nearby river couldn’t be seen from the campsite, it was close enough that the soothing sound of the flowing water could always be heard.

Claude let out a long impressed whistle as he took in the sight, letting his heavy backpack fall from his shoulders. “A couple days of hiking through this forest, and yet I still can’t believe just how pretty it is.”

“It’s nice,” Byleth agreed in a monotone, head down as she worked on setting up the tents. Claude still couldn’t get a read on that emotionless voice and expression of hers, but at least she had yet to complain about anything. Hopefully she didn’t regret agreeing to this trip. 

When she glanced up from unpacking and caught his eye, he flashed a quick smile. “I was just thinking, once we get the camp stove set up, I’ll prepare the best feast that our rations will allow. Something to make the first night at our little base camp here special.”

The shop owners in town may not have told him anything about wyverns, but at least they were much more forthcoming when it came to food. When he had explained what he would be doing, the merchants were sure to sell him spices as well, describing the flavors of each and how to best cook with them. 

By the time he was finished preparing a modest meal of rice, beans, and the last of the dehydrated foods they had been subsisting on during the hike, Claude was grateful for the advice. Between the powdered pepper and the various herbs and diced garlic, the simple dish smelled incredibly appetizing.

Byleth apparently agreed. Claude, proud of his cooking, couldn’t help but watch as she took her first bite, and was rewarded with spotting the slight widening of her eyes and her quiet noise of surprise. He chuckled as she tucked into her food with zeal. “I’ll take that as a compliment to the chef, then?”

Byleth hummed in agreement, swallowing her current mouthful before speaking. “It’s good. Much better than what I usually eat while camping. My dad is a man of many skills, but cooking is not one of them.”

That was the first time she had said anything about herself unprompted. “That so?” Claude pressed, hoping to hear more from his quiet companion. 

She simply nodded in response, and Claude feared that would be the end of the conversation until she belatedly followed it up with, “My mom is a great cook, though. She always has a nice meal ready when dad and I return home.”

Well, there was some new information! “I watched a ton of you and your dad’s videos to prepare for this trip, but I’ve never seen your mom make an appearance in them. She doesn’t camp with you?”

“No, her health doesn’t let her. We always try to bring her something back, though. Usually a pressed flower or something similar.”

Claude hummed thoughtfully at that. “Well, we can’t bring plants back across the border, but I bet we can still find something nice during this trip for you to turn into a souvenir for her!”

Byleth actually smiled at that. It was a small thing, a tiny lift at the corners of her mouth and a slight lighting up of her eyes that Claude would have missed entirely if he hadn’t been watching her so closely. “That would be nice.”

Claude beamed automatically in response, surprising himself with how easily the smile came to his own face. “Then it’s a plan.”

-

The morning brought thick mist with it, cooling the air and hanging heavy around the treetops, making it appear as if the trunks continued endlessly up into a sea of white. Now and then birds could be seen darting through the mist, their calls echoing oddly through the woods.

It was beautiful and strange, but entirely unhelpful for Claude keeping the sheer cliff of the mountain in view. Byleth accompanied him to find a nearby hill that peaked just above the layer of mist, allowing him to keep watch for any wyverns flying from the mountain.

She sat quietly with him for the first hour of his vigil, but returned to camp after the sun rose higher and the mist dissipated. Claude remained, keeping his eyes trained for any movement above the canopy, hoping to catch the sharp silhouette of a wyvern, but the hours ticked by with no sight of them. He stopped tracking time as he kept watch, and likely would have forgotten to eat if Byleth hadn’t made the trek to bring him a lunch of leftovers.

His hopes rose as the sun started to sink. Dusk would make for a prime time to spot the winged reptiles as they made their journey back home to roost for the night. But the sun dipped below the horizon and the moon rose with the stars, and still he spotted no glimpse of hide or scale or claw. The full moon provided just enough light that a wyvern taking a nocturnal flight might be spotted, and so he remained, watching and hoping as the night dragged on…

-

Claude was rather surprised upon waking up; partly because he didn’t remember falling asleep, and largely because he certainly didn’t remember walking back to camp, zipping open his tent, and climbing into his sleeping bag while still fully clothed, and yet here he was. Claude stared in confusion at the polyester walls of his tent, trying to recall his return trip, until a shuffling outside returned him to his senses. He slipped out of his sleeping bag, into a fresh outfit, and out into the world.

Byleth’s eyes flicked lazily over to him as he emerged from his tent, not pausing in her task of setting up small solar panels around the campsite. “Good morning.”

“Uh, right, morning!” Claude called back, scratching at the back of his head. The sun had already climbed high enough that the morning mist had disappeared, and a faintly burnt smell alerted him that Byleth had already had breakfast. “I… This is going to sound stupid, but do you know how I got here?”

“We flew,” Byleth answered without missing a beat.

Claude blinked. Was that… did she just make a joke? An odd one, but certainly a joke. He snorted and clarified, “Right, thanks, but I meant _here_ here, specifically. I don’t remember coming back to camp last night.”

“You didn’t. You fell asleep back on the hill. I carried you.”

Claude stared at her for a long moment, trying to discern if that was another joke. “You… carried me? That’s a mile hike, at least.”

She looked thoughtful at that. “I would say it was three quarters of a mile, tops.” When he just continued to stare, she shrugged one shoulder. “And you’re light.”

-

He was certain to return to camp by nightfall after that.

When the first week passed and Claude still had not seen any wyverns from his vantage point on the hill, he decided it was time to try a new angle. Early in the morning, before the mist would start to rise from the ground, he would hike out to a new location around the base of the mountain. He would find a new high point, sometimes a rock outcropping, sometimes another hill, sometimes up the side of another mountain just above the layer of mist, and keep his eyes to the sky, searching and scanning for what he hoped to find.

By the end of the second week, on top of his waning spirits as the days passed with no sighting, he was faced with an entirely new challenge. 

“I’m running out of ways to keep rice and beans an interesting meal,” Claude confessed, sighing heavily over his dinner. 

Byleth glanced up from her own plate, brows shifting almost imperceptibly in disbelief. “Really? I still think this tastes great.”

He forced himself to take another bite. “I’m glad you’re happy, but I’d love to eat absolutely _anything_ other than rice and beans right now.”

Byleth considered him for a long moment, a glint in her eyes. “How do you feel about fish?”

-

Claude didn’t have much time left to find a wyvern. By all accounts, the absolute most important thing for him to do would be to spend every moment that he could on his search. But there were some things that he just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to watch.

He sat cross-legged on the bank of the river, watching with rapt attention as Byleth waded barefoot into the water, a long sharpened stick clutched tightly in her right hand. When the water reached her knees she stopped, her body entirely still as her eyes traced the movements of creatures below the surface.

Claude could recall a time in his undergraduate years when he had considered studying venomous snakes. He had always been fascinated by all things toxic, but something about the stealth and speed of snakes truly captivated him. He still remembered watching a video of a silvermouth viper, the fastest snake in the world, striking at its prey in less time than a human could blink. 

Watching Byleth make her move reminded him of that. Completely still one moment, and then the next, her spear had plunged with deadly accuracy. He almost clapped when she held her stick overhead for him to see the carp impaled on the end.

“There’s one,” she called, yanking the deceased fish off her spear with a slick noise that Claude wished he hadn’t heard. She slipped it into the pouch tied to her belt and readied her spear once more.

By her third fish, Claude gave into temptation. “Okay, I know you’re just making it _look_ easy, but I still really want to give this a try.”

She looked slightly surprised by the request. “Sure. As long as you promise not to impale your own foot.” A pause, and then she added, “Or my foot.”

“I’ll try to avoid stabbing either of our extremities,” he agreed with a grin, stripping off his shoes and padding into the river after her. The corner of Byleth’s lips twitched upwards and suddenly there it was again, that tiny smile of hers that inexplicably captivated him and seized his higher brain functions. He was still staring at it when his unsupervised feet slipped on a rock and he felt himself tumble forwards.

He had half a second to brace himself for the fall, and then several seconds to realize he wasn’t falling. His gaze traveled slowly up to the hands gripping tightly at his arms keeping him from tumbling any further, and then up further to Byleth’s face, where her eyes were wide in shock. Claude thought she was surprised at the speed in which she had moved (which certainly had _him_ surprised) until she asked, “Are you alright?”

She was worried for him? “Nothing hurt but my pride! That’s why I try not to have too much.”

She let out a soft sound that could have been a chuckle and helped pull him back upright to his feet. Even with his footing recovered, her grip remained steady on him, and his heart seemed to keep racing. “Uh… you can let go now, if you want. I’m not planning on tripping again. Even my small bit of pride might not survive that.”

“What?” Byleth looked down at her hands in genuine confusion, as if she hadn’t realized they were still holding him tightly. “Oh! Right.” She let go and took a few steps back, her expression trying and failing to morph back into a blank slate.

Claude winked, hoping to alleviate the strange tension. “Hey, no worries. If you ever want to hold my hand, you just have to ask.”

He was expecting her to snort or roll her eyes. Instead, her gaze dropped to the side and she mumbled something that sounded like an apology or an excuse, and unless Claude’s eyes were deceiving him, a touch of red had risen on her cheeks. He was nowhere near prepared for her to be that expressive or, frankly, that cute and ah, of course, it all at once occurred to him why exactly thoughts of her clung to his mind so persistently.

The weight of that realization had him avoiding her eyes as well. His gaze dropped to the pebbles below the surface of the water while he mumbled something about not worrying about it, hoping that his own face remained unflushed.

But then his eye caught something, a familiar shape he had seen before. He kneeled down and squinted, reaching for the object lodged between some river rocks. He pulled the flat white thing out of the water to examine it, twisting it back and forth.

“What is it?” Byleth asked, sounding relieved for the distraction.

Claude held it up higher for her to see, feeling a triumphant grin spreading across his face. “That, my friend... is a wyvern scale.”

He was right. There were wyverns in the Morfis cloud forest. And perhaps there was a way to keep searching for them and to spend more time with Byleth, which had suddenly become just as important of a goal to him.

That evening, over a wonderful dinner of stewed fish with rice, Claude flashed a smile to his companion. “Say, have you ever gone herping before?”

-

Claude enjoyed herping; something about the potential for discovery, the thrill of flipping over a log or rock and finding a creature had always appealed to him. The idea of having Byleth with him this time and seeing her experience that for the first time had him struggling to keep his cool.

“This one looks promising,” he called, leading the way to a small rotting log on the forest floor.

Byleth followed with a skeptical expression. “I’m not the expert here, but I don’t believe a wyvern would fit under that.”

Claude chuckled. “You’re right on that count, but in my experience, the best way to find a specific species is to stop worrying about finding that specific species and just enjoy the hunt. Let’s see… aha, take a look!” He turned the wood over and gestured for her. He was happy to see her skepticism turning to curiosity as she approached, eyeing the bright blue-and-red lizard he had uncovered. “Look, but don’t touch. That’s _Maldermis bicolor_ , a species of poison dart lizards. It turns chemicals from the ants it eats into a toxin that’s secreted from its skin.” Claude could also talk for ages about the uses of poison from dart lizards, but decided that topic could wait. For the moment, he was just satisfied to observe the spark of interest in Byleth’s eyes.

Deeper still into the forest, he encountered another exciting find. “Check this fellow out!” Claude called, still breathing hard from his race to catch it. 

Byleth seemed less interested in the impressively-sized banded snake he had curling around his arm than the twin pinpricks on his hand dripping blood. “Please tell me that’s not a venomous snake,” she pleaded, tone somewhere between exasperated and concerned.

He turned his arm around to hide the snakebite from her, hoping to get her attention back on the more exciting thing. “Nope, this is _Spilotes terrabates_ , the Morfis rat snake. Totally nonvenomous, he just tagged me when I reached for him. He’s calmed down now, though. Here, look at the pattern on his back, I can’t believe how vibrant it is in person!”

Her frown remained in place. “It’s a very cool snake, Claude. Now please let it go so I can take care of that bite.”

Claude sighed deeply but complied, lowering the serpent back to the ground and letting it slither off. “I promise it looks much worse than it is. Snake saliva has an anticoagulant in it. It’s bleeding a lot, but doesn’t really hurt.”

Despite his dismissal, she had already whipped a first aid kit out of her bag and taken his hand in hers to disinfect the small wound. Her movements were steady, but it was with surprising gentleness that she wrapped a bandage around his palm. Claude felt heat rise in his face as she cradled his hand to inspect her work and he prayed to any god that would listen that she wouldn’t notice.

Claude’s favorite find of the day occurred late in the evening, when he and Byleth were making their way back to camp as the sky turned dark. 

“Is that… no way, I can’t believe I actually spotted that!” Even looking straight at it, it was nearly impossible to see. Claude had to bring Byleth within inches of the leaf to catch sight of the small creature hiding on it. It was a tiny gecko, no more than an inch tip-to-tail, with translucent skin. Claude could see right through it to the leaf under its belly, and could even see the outline of its organs if he looked closely enough. “ _Hemidactylus idolum_ , the glass gecko. I’ve always wanted to see one of these guys in person.”

“I can see right through it,” Byleth said quietly, and Claude felt an ecstatic thrill go through him at hearing the unmistakable awe in her voice.

“It’s amazing, right? And it’s a great example of why I love doing this. There’s no end to the tricks of adaptation! This guy’s got such a unique take on camouflage. No need to worry about being just the right color to blend in with your background if you’re virtually invisible!”

“Claude.” Byleth’s tone was no longer that breathy wonderment, but serious, heavy. Claude felt the smile that he hadn’t even realized was on his face freeze cautiously in place as he turned to face her. “What’s the real reason you’re so invested in finding wyverns in this country?”

He forced a smirk back on his face. “I already told you, friend. There’s no better way to get my career started.”

Byleth said nothing in response, just continued to stare through him, her eyes as unblinking as the gecko they had just been admiring. It was a gaze that left him nowhere to hide, and he decided to stop trying.

“...Have you ever wondered, if there _are_ wyverns here, how in the world have they not already been discovered?” She remained quiet at his question, but he could see the subtle change in her expression. He was ready to tell her the truth, in his own roundabout way, and she was grateful. “I mean, sure, we haven’t had much luck, but how long do you really think big flying lizards could exist somewhere without getting spotted? The people of Morfis know that wyverns live here. They’ve known for a long time, and they haven’t been keeping it some grand secret. And yet, if you open any biology textbook in Fódlan, it will tell you that wyverns reside solely within Almyra when not migrating.”

The forest was eerily quiet as dusk progressed, too late for the colorful birds living in the treetops to sing their songs, but too early still for the crickets to start their nightly performance. Claude’s voice sounded too loud in his own ears as he continued, Byleth’s full attention on him. “That’s the thing about Fódlan academia; it’s of Fódlan, for Fódlan, and it’s an echo chamber that’s unwilling to consider an outside perspective. If the people of Morfis claim that wyverns live within their borders when the Fódlan scholars grew up learning that wyverns live in Almyra, then the immediate conclusion is that the Morfis people must be uneducated and full of strange superstitions. 

I want that to change. Maybe, just maybe, if I can prove that this is true, it might inspire someone else to look beyond their own walls for a change. Listen to what the rest of the world says, too.” He shrugged, hoping to lighten the heavy mood. “And if not, well, I wasn’t lying when I said this would be great for my career. Once I’ve made a name for myself, I can start changing things from the inside. Maybe that all sounds like an unrealistic dream, but it’s one I’ve had for a long time.”

“You can do it.” She said it with such certainty, such conviction, that for once, Claude didn’t know what to say. Byleth was quiet as well while she searched for words. “Not just finding the wyverns here, but changing things. I believe you can do it. You’re… it’s very easy to listen to you.” She looked unsatisfied with herself, as if there was something she wanted to express but couldn’t find the right phrase to say it, but that hardly mattered to Claude. Somehow, her belief and her support lifted a weight off his shoulders that he hadn’t realized was there until it was gone.

“Thanks, my friend, those words mean a lot coming from you. ...But you might be too optimistic on the wyvern front. I’m at my wit’s end. I mean, consider that glass gecko; it has the perfect adaptation to hide. How can the wyverns here be white and yet we still haven’t spotted one?”

Byleth hummed, considering that. “True, I haven’t seen anywhere they would blend in. In fact, since coming out here, the only white thing I’ve seen has been mist.”

“Exactly! There’s nowhere they wouldn’t be obvious except-” he stopped dead in his tracks as the realization dawned on him. “...You, my friend, are a genius.”

-

When morning came, they were ready. Byleth had found the perfect location for what they wanted, a tall rock formation at the peak of a hill that reached into the layer of mist. She was perched at the top, only visible as a vague silhouette from where Claude acted as lookout from the ground. 

As with all other mornings, when Claude looked up into the mist, he could occasionally spot the shape of a bird darting through, flitting between the trees. But now, as he really focused, he noticed that some of the flight patterns were off, some shapes too angular. Yes, most of what he watched were indeed birds, but as he watched one creature come closer to them, hovering in midair as it curiously observed them while its long, tapered tail hung below it…

“There, that one!” He called to his companion, pointing even though he doubted she could see him past the mist. “It’s close to you, can you see it?”

The plan was to have her use her vantage point to get a better view of anything he pointed out, to confirm if his suspicions were correct. From there, they could work out how to film a wyvern and collect samples from one. That was it, no danger involved.

“I see it,” Byleth said, and then leapt from the rock.

Claude wasn’t sure exactly what sound left his throat as she careened through the air, colliding with the small flying creature on her way down. She tumbled to the grass in a curled up ball, with something that Claude couldn’t see wrapped up in her arms as it struggled and squawked in indignity.

“Byleth!” he cried as he hurried over to her, grasping her shoulders to get her attention and see her face. “What were you thinking? Are you alright?”

Her expression was unreadable, but not pained. “I’ve got it.” The bundle in her arms let out an annoyed trill as it twisted in her grip, and Claude finally saw what it was.

A small white wyvern, probably still a yearling, was cradled in her arms, tail twitching to show its displeasure. It beat its wings against Byleth, trying to get her to let it go. 

“You’ve got it,” Claude repeated in shock, dropping to his knees in front of her to get a better look. “You’ve got it!” When he met her gaze again, they were both sporting wide grins.

“It’s a wyvern!” she called triumphantly. “You were right, they’re here. Claude, we found a-!”

He didn’t remember making the conscious choice to lean forward and kiss her at that moment. He simply moved, only fully realizing what he had done once their lips met and Byleth went still with a muffled noise of surprise. Claude pulled back like he had just been shocked by an exposed wire. 

“Ah! I’m sorry, I didn’t- I was excited and didn’t think-”

He was cut off abruptly as Byleth grabbed the back of his head and pulled him back to her, kissing him back eagerly. Claude melted into the kiss, forgetting everything else in the world as his thoughts were consumed with the person he was holding, the person holding him. The forest, his ambitions, the increasingly indignant creature now squirming against two bodies holding it in place: everything else was quiet. 

Until Byleth separated from him with an alarmed cry of “The wyvern!”

“The wyvern…?” Claude echoed, mind still blissfully foggy. It clicked into place quite suddenly that Byleth’s arms were empty of any irate reptiles. “The wyvern! Where did it…”

They turned in unison to spot the white creature creeping along the forest floor a few feet away, moving slowly as if hoping to escape their notice. 

The next several seconds were a chaotic scramble of limbs and wings and yells as they lunged for the creature before it could take flight. When all was settled again, they were both clutching it, carefully so as not to cause it any injury, and breathing hard as they regained their composure. Claude met Byleth’s eye and tried to think of something witty to say. There was no need; Byleth took one look at him, hair askew and covered in dirt, and the hassled-but-resigned wyvern in their arms, and simply started laughing.

It was the greatest sound he had ever heard, and he joined in without a second thought, the young wyvern huffing between them as if in disapproval.

-

_...as seen in the above image, the Morfis variant is completely white, unlike its dark Almyran counterpart. Based on observation, it is theorized that this adaptation allows Wyvernus alba, henceforth referred to as W. alba, to remain hidden in mist within the cloud forest as it searches for prey in the early morning hours. W. alba appears to be primarily arboreal, spending most of the day in the canopy where it…_

Claude’s phone buzzed, distracting him from writing his thesis. He glanced over, saw Byleth’s name on screen, and immediately abandoned his work to scramble for his phone and pull up his messages. 

Byleth had sent him a picture of a woman with soft green hair and eyes just like her daughter’s. She was beaming as she held up the pendant she was wearing, which had a single white scale attached to it. A message followed the image almost instantaneously, reading simply:

_“mom loves it.”_

Claude grinned, but didn’t get a chance to reply before another message came in. 

_“btw, we still on for the camping trip this weekend?”_

Not for the first time, Claude wondered at his luck during his trip to Morfis. His greatest hope had been to find a wyvern; he had never once anticipated finding something even greater. He smiled to himself as he typed up a reply.

_”Wouldn’t miss it for the world!”_

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! This was quite possibly the most self-indulgent thing I have ever written, but I sure hope you enjoyed it, too.
> 
> Many things were simplified here, so many apologies to any zoologists or experts of Latin. Since this world isn't quite Earth, I invented the specific species that are mentioned, but everything is inspired by a real-world counterpart, and I tried to be reasonably accurate with genus names. Anyway, if you ever want to watch people getting very excited about frogs, I cannot recommend enough watching videos of people herping! (Snake Discovery is one of my faves!)


End file.
